After It All
by lovecamedown
Summary: Still recovering from the dramas of The Ancient Grudge, Maddy and Rhydian try to live out their lives as normally as possible. Follow them on their adventures, and struggles, together in the next stage of their lives. One shot series. Most main characters appear at some point. Sequel story to The Ancient Grudge/season 3 continuation.
1. After Effects

**A/N:** _I was ready to finish the plot filled story that is TAG, but I wasn't ready to leave the TAG world. So here's a one shot series, all separate to each other with no running potline, but all set after TAG in the world I've created along the way. :)_

* * *

After years of what had felt like on again-off again problems within Maddy's pack, it was unbelievably nice to have things back to normal.

With Rhydian living with her and her parents, Emma and Dan were slowly becoming more and more natural around the couple, and it was good for Maddy and Rhydian for them to step back a little.

When Rhydian was going back to school, they planned to walk to school together most days, unless it was terrible weather. If it was, Emma and Dan would take them in.

It was just like old times; except better, because they were a couple, and they lived in the same house, and the whole pack was in the same town, _together_. Everything was right.

After weeks of recovering from their fight with the Wolfblood, Rhydian was finally returning to school. Maddy was quite nervous about what people's reactions would be after he'd been away for so long – she had kept her explanations to a minimum; just saying he was ill – but Rhydian wasn't worried at all. The only thing he was bothered about was how Maddy was feeling.

"It's going to be fine, Mads." Rhydian said from his position in front of the mirror. He was putting his tie on, Maddy on the other side of the room, brushing her hair.

"I just don't want to have to face all the questions," she said. "Because there will be questions. There are _always_ questions."

"I know," he said softly. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Maddy moved across the room so she was standing behind him. She tilted her head to the side curiously.

"What?" Rhydian questioned, smirking at her reflection in the mirror.

"You always leave half your buttons undone." She reached around his torso from behind and started doing up the buttons that had been left loose from his waist downwards.

"Well don't do them back up again!" Rhydian exclaimed, pushing her hands away.

Maddy laughed. "Why not?"

"I've always worn them like that," Rhydian commented, turning to face her as he unfastened all the buttons she had done up for him, revealing the blue top he was wearing underneath.

"Not _that_ many buttons," Maddy commented. She grabbed a hold of each side of his shirt, observing the button holes. "There are six undone buttons there. You might as well just not have it done up at all!"

Rhydian smirked. He took her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes. "Do you not like it like this?" He asked, but Maddy had a feeling that, even if she said yes, he wouldn't change it.

Maddy smiled and shook her head. "I don't really care how you do up your buttons, Rhydian. It's just I've only just noticed you do it."

"It's just comfier," he shrugged.

"Fair enough," Maddy shrugged, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I don't mind them undone anyway."

Rhydian smiled and leaned in to kiss her. Her bottom lip was caught between both of his, and as they pulled away, both of them broke in to grins.

"Love you," Rhydian said. He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Love you too. Now come on…let's go get this day over with."

"We'll be _fine_ , Mads," he assured her as they set off out her bedroom door.

"Mhhmm." She didn't sound convinced.

* * *

"It's so nice to have you going to school with us," Maddy smiled as they walked through the woods. They were holding hands, Maddy pressed up against his arm with her head on his shoulder.

"It's nice to be able to be with you most of the day."

"Shame we're not in geography together, though."

"At least we're both in the others."

"How did we manage that? That's pure luck, right there."

When they walked in to school, Rhydian held Maddy's hand tighter as he sensed her getting slightly tenser. They attracted some looks from the occasional student (mainly ones in their year) but generally things were pretty normal, and they headed straight for the form room.

"Hey, Welshy!" Jimi called from across the room when Maddy and Rhydian walked through the door. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Maddy told you, I've been ill." Rhydian said, not even bothering to look over at Jimi. He held Maddy's hand tight as they walked to their usual table, and Maddy held it tightly in return.

The nerves were yet to leave her.

"Then why was Maddy away for a week too?" He questioned further, an annoyed smirk on his face. Why did he want to know _everything_?

" _Technically_ ," Rhydian started, pulling Maddy's chair out for her and then sitting on the table in front of her. "It's none of your business. But if you must know, Maddy caught what I had."

"Riiiiight."

Rolling his eyes, Rhydian turned to Maddy and took her hand, squeezing it. "Wasn't so bad, was it?" he whispered.

Maddy shook her head. "Not yet."

"It'll be fine, Mads."

* * *

The day went by pretty slowly for the both of them, but that was fairly standard at school. It was nice for them to be there together, though, because for ages it had been just one of them at a time, which was never fun.

Jimi was being a douchebag, as usual. Shannon loved the A-level maths. Rhydian hated the A-level maths. Everything was back to normal now; or, at least, it was back to how it _should_ be. Mostly, anyway. There were still some things that lingered from what had happened all those weeks ago, but for the most part things were settling back to a better way of living.

Last period was P.E. and, after a short afternoon break spent in the dark room, Maddy, Rhydian and Shannon all headed to the gym. All of them hated the fact that P.E. was a required subject to take, even at A-levels.

Maddy and Rhydian got plenty of exercise in their every day lives; why did they have to be forced to do more at school?

Begrudgingly, the three of them headed for the changing rooms just before the bell went, leaving ten minutes or so to get changed before Miss Graham got annoyed at them for being too slow.

"Oh my God," Maddy said quietly when her and Shannon were in the changing rooms.

"What?" Shannon turned to face her.

"My arm," Maddy whispered. "The scar. It's going to be so visible in this P.E. top." She held up her shirt for Shannon to see, and they both had frowns on their faces now.

"Crap," Shannon replied. She bit her lip, thinking.

"What am I going to do!?"

"Calm down, it's alright. We'll work something out."

"How? What is there to work out!? The scar is there, I can't get rid of it…"

Shannon pointed to Maddy as if she'd just had an idea. "Have you actually tried the top? – To see how much it shows?"

"No, but I know it'll be a lot."

"Just try it."

Maddy hesitated, but nodded anyway. "Okay," she headed off in the direction of one of the few cubicles, Shannon following behind. Once she was inside, she took off her top and replaced it with her P.E. shirt.

Opening the door just a crack, she showed her arm to Shannon who was waiting outside. "How does it look?"

Shannon looked her best friend over. "It doesn't look too bad, Mads. It's just the very edge of it."

As a test, Maddy lifted her arm up above her head, glancing at her reflection in the mirror.

Her eyes widened when her sleeve lifted and showed the whole scar; right there, blatantly, for everyone to see.

But then, an idea popped in to her head.

"Rhydian," Maddy said suddenly.

"What about Rhydian?"

"His shirt. If I wear one of his PE shirts, it'll cover it. Right?"

"Right," Shannon drawled, seeming dubious. "But it'll also be huge on you, Mads."

Maddy shrugged. "Better than a massive, pretty fresh scar being on show for everyone to see. And besides, I can knot it at the back."

"You don't think Miss Graham will wonder why you're wearing someone else's T-shirt that's way too big for you?"

Waving a carefree hand, Maddy walked out of the cubicle. "I'll just tell her I forgot my shirt and had to borrow Rhydian's spare."

"But your scar is going to be there forever, Mads. How are you going to deal with it next week?"

Maddy looked down for a tiny, tiny moment, still not liking the sound of 'the scar will be there forever'. But then she looked up and shrugged. "I don't know. We'll work it out. But right now, this is the best solution, right?"

Shannon nodded. "Yeah."

"Now, when you're dressed, can you go get Rhydian to give me one of your shirts?"

Nodding, Shannon turned to finish getting changed, leaving Maddy standing by the mirrors, waiting.

Sighing, Maddy leaned against the wall with her elbow, putting her face in to her hand. She didn't want to be scarred forever. She didn't want _Rhydian_ to be scarred forever. What was she going to do when she wanted to go swimming? When she wanted to wear a regular vest top?

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a message from Jana.  
When she opened it, she couldn't help but let out a little giggle; it was a very off-centred selfie of Jana, with pretty much only half of her face showing, and the camera was obviously shaky, and she looked confused.

 _'_ _Still figuring out this whole picture thing, but I'm having a long day at Segolia'_ the text read, and Maddy smiled to herself. It was probably one of the first selfies Jana had ever taken.

Still smiling softly, Maddy typed out her reply.

 _'_ _It's called a selfie! I'm having a long day too. hugs xx'_

As Maddy was walking back to her stuff, Shannon came back in with Rhydian's T-shirt in hand.

"It looks good on you," Rhydian said to Maddy as she walked out of the changing rooms and in to the gym hall. She headed towards him, and he was smirking, looking her up and down with an amused glint in his eyes.

"Are you kidding? I can't tell when you look at me like that." Maddy said, giving him a playfully annoyed look.

He grinned, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "I'm partially kidding. But anything looks good on you."

"I don't care how it looks as long as you can't see… _it_."

"Well, you definitely can't. That T-shirt is so massive."

"Twice my size. Pretty much."

Chuckling, Rhydian took her hand and squeezed it. "You okay?"

Maddy nodded and looked down. "I guess. Just…feeling the after-effects a little today."

Rhydian frowned. He brought his finger up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Wanna talk about it later?"

"Yeah," Maddy nodded.

"Listen, Mads, I know things aren't the same now, but…"

"We'll talk about it later."

Maddy walked past him, knowing that now wasn't the time to be talking about deep things.

Swiftly, he came up behind her and grabbed her hand, lifting it up to kiss her skin quickly.

She looked up at him. He looked back, and they both smiled.

There were things they needed to adjust to now.

Things had changed so much since they left Canada, and even though they were still adjusting and getting used to how things were nowadays, and some days were bad days…everything was still pretty good.

Maddy and Rhydian were together, and they were home, with the people that mattered most to them. They had each other to get through the harder days.

Sometimes, where scars form, the skin ends up stronger than it ever was before.

* * *

 **A/N:** _HELLO. Welcome to the first chapter of After It All! I'm so excited about this...it's finally begun!_

 _I have no idea how often I'll update as I'm busy and not very well atm :( but I do have lots of ideas for it, and I'm not going to abandon it. I know you guys have been waiting a while, and I was going to leave it until January (!) to start, because it'd be a year of TAG, but honestly I couldn't wait!_

 _I really, really hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's sort of fluff I suppose. But I just wanted to convey that they're still dealing with what happened to them; it's not like it's all been left in the past and it doesn't effect them anymore. We're going to see them struggle through some of the aftermath in a few chapters; some of the things that have been left behind from the attack._

 _Please please PLEASE let me know what you think - I've been dying to hear your thoughts!_

 _LOVE :* xxx_


	2. While You Were Away

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Wolfblood._

* * *

"Where are you taking me!?" Maddy asked, a wide grin on her lips as Rhydian practically dragged her through the woods by her hand.

"Just be patient!" Rhydian grinned too. "And stop dragging behind me; my arm's getting tired."

Maddy rolled her eyes. "You're a weakling."

"It's not like I don't have a decent excuse. I almost died a month ago."

Maddy stopped walking all of a sudden, causing Rhydian to stop too and turn to her.

"What?" He asked, a frown making its way on to his forehead.

"Don't talk like that," Maddy said, her voice all of a sudden sounding tense and slightly panicked. "Don't use that word. Don't even…think like that. I was never going to _let_ you die. So you didn't almost die. OK?"

Rhydian sighed ruefully and stepped towards her. His frown was a little more intense now as he realised Maddy's genuine distress. "Sorry," he said, reaching up to touch her face with his spare hand. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine," she said genuinely. "I just…it's all still raw. You know that. Both of us can still _see_ it all. Literally. I don't like using that word; somehow it makes it all feel more real."

"I know what you mean," Rhydian pulled her forward and kissed her forehead, his hand now sitting on her waist. "It's all over now."

"I know." Maddy sighed.

"Not that that's going to take away the memories, or the nightmares, but…,"

"It helps."

Rhydian smiled. We're gonna have a good day today though. I promise." He said as he pulled away.

Maddy smiled up at him, squeezing his hand. "I know.… Well, when I actually find out where we're going."

Rhydian laughed again, and they started walking through the woods again. "Patience, Madeleine!"

"Don't call me that! It makes me feel like I'm in trouble!"

Rhydian laughed. "What?"

"Mam only calls me that when I've done something wrong, or when she's in a bad mood."

"Well…I call you it when I want to tell you I love you."

"But that's not what you just did."

"It was subtext."

"No it was _not_."

Rhydian laughed again, helping her over some big tree roots that stuck out from the ground. "Okay, okay. From now on, I'll only use your full name when I'm annoyed at you."

Playfully, Maddy gasped, hitting him on the arm. "Don't be cheeky!"

* * *

Rhydian was taking Maddy to see where he and Jana had engraved the Bayoneth on a rock near the old Wolfblood den. He thought it'd be a nice day for them to spend together, and a way for him to share some of the things he got up to whilst Maddy was away. Maddy hadn't been herself recently – she'd been quiet and down – and he wanted to find a way to cheer her up a little.

"What is this place?" Maddy asked as they approached the large, flat rock face that was the outside of the old den.

"It's an old Wolfblood den," Rhydian explained, putting his rucksack down on a rock and leading Maddy closer.

Maddy frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. Me and Jana visited it when we bunked off work experience."

"You bunked off work experience!?" Maddy exclaimed, slowing her pace before coming to a stop.

Rhydian turned to her, an amused smirk on his face. "Yeah. Why?"

"Rhydian!" Maddy hit him on the arm. "That's really bad. You can't just bunk off work experience because you don't feel like going."

"Who are you, my mum?" Rhydian joked, and then he shrugged. "Jeffries almost expelled us for it, but…," he continued quickly before Maddy could interrupt, "It wasn't because we didn't feel like it. It was for a better reason than that."

"What was it?"

"Jana needed it. It was after she lost her pack and she was really not herself, so mum sent us here to do something to make her feel passionate again."

"What did you do?"

"This." Rhydian started walking again and Maddy followed. And after a few moments, he stopped right in front of the rock he and Jana had engraved his design on all those months ago.

Rhydian watched Maddy as she smiled and let go of his hand so she could crouch down in front of it. She ran her fingers over it, and he smiled at her.

"Did you do this?" She asked.

Rhydian nodded. "Yeah."

"It's awesome."

"It's called a Bayoneth," he explained. "Jana used Ansion here and it turns out that the pack was hunted on a full moon. And they never had chance to leave their mark behind; their Bayoneth. So Jana decided we should make one for them, so they could be remembered."

"That's amazing, Rhydian," Maddy said, still crouching in front of it and smiling down at the engraving. "I love it."

"Thanks," He grinned in return as he watched her from behind. "Wanna see the old ruins?"

Smiling, Maddy stood up again, dusting off her jeans. "Yeah. Can I take a picture of this first?"

Smiling, Rhydian nodded. "Yeah. Do you really like it that much?"

"Yeah. It's so clever. And it's yours; I'm proud of it."

Bringing out her camera, Maddy took several different photos of the engraving from different angles, and Rhydian watched her fondly.

A few minutes later, once Maddy was finished, Rhydian took her hand in his again, grabbed his backpack, and then they headed off inside the den.

They wandered around for a half hour or so, and they may or may not have spent ten of those minutes laughing at the way their voices echoed off the wall and sounded funny.

And then they went and sat on one of the rocks on the other side of the den, slightly surprised to see that the sun was now peeking through the clouds. It was October and it was pretty cold, so the both of them were wrapped up in coats and scarves and hats, although they were pretty much warm enough as it was. Wolfbloods, even in their more human form, tended to stay warmer a lot easily than normal humans.  
Still, the cold did get to them eventually, hence why Maddy begun to get slightly cold as they sat and sipped from their bottle of water, chatting between themselves.

"Are you cold?" Rhydian asked, turning his head to face her.

Maddy frowned. "Did you sense that?"

Smirking, Rhydian nodded and shrugged. "Guilty."

"Sort of a benefit of going out with us, huh?"

"It's stronger than ever with you."

Maddy smiled. This sort of thing happened a lot with the two of them. They could often sense things in others, too – mainly because of scent or just instinct, and mainly when they were in wolf form – but between Maddy and Rhydian, they could sense everything. All the time. Sometimes it was a blessing; other times it was a curse.

Minutes later, Rhydian took a short and hesitant breath to speak.

"Mads," he started. In his peripheral vision, he saw her look at him. "I know you haven't been feeling too happy recently…I know the thing that happened with the wild Wolfblood is still…"

"It was more than a 'thing that happened', Rhydian."

Rhydian looked at her. His forehead was wrinkled, and she frowned when she realised that. Suddenly, Maddy became aware of how hesitant he was feeling, and she realised that he really was concerned.

"You know what I mean," Rhydian said softly. "And I know you're still feeling the effects of it, and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I'm not being really strong through it either.… I want to be okay for you, Mads. And I'm sorry I've been suffering with all of it too. You've been through way more than I have."

Maddy took his hand in his and squeezed it tight, her brow furrowing in to a frown. "Don't you ever say that," She said firmly. "You're totally allowed to feel down like I do. You don't always have to be strong."

"I know, but I…I want to be strong for you. To be there for you.… To fix it."

Maddy felt strangely teary, and her forehead wrinkled further. "Rhydian…"

He continued, "and I just feel like I'm letting you down. I want to make it all better. But I…I know I can't. I'm sorry about what I said earlier about me almost dying. I don't want to make it worse for you, you know? I—"

Maddy cut him off in the best way she could; she knew that words weren't going to shut him up.

Instead, she leaned forward and kissed him, catching his open lips with hers and putting her hand on his cheek. He kissed her back almost straight away, of course, and both of their brows were still furrowed.

When Maddy pulled away, she looked him in the eyes with her hand now cupping underneath his chin.

"What was that for?" He asked, frowning.

"You wouldn't listen to me any other way."

"I would have."

Maddy kissed him again. "Rhydian," she started quietly, now smoothing her thumb over his skin. "You know where you've always gone wrong? – You always feel like you're the one who has to fix things and that you have to be strong all the time; just you, on your own. But you don't. You don't have to be strong for me and you don't need to do it on your own; we can both be a bit off balance, but _together_ , we're strong. I hate to make a speech, Rhydian. I'm sorry. But it's true."

Rhydian smiled sadly, just one side of his mouth lifting. "Maddy, I just want you to be okay." his voice was tiny.

"And I love you for that. I want you to be okay, too. But right now, I think we just need to...get by."

Rhydian's forehead lined morosely. When he spoke, his voice was so quiet and small. "You lost your family, Mads. I should be there for you."

"You _are_ being there for me," Maddy took his hand again encouragingly. "You're doing amazing. But I just need you to let yourself be not okay too."

There was a pause. Rhydian sighed through his nose. And then he leaned in to kiss her; he'd intended for it to be quick and chaste, but as soon as he kissed her, he didn't want to pull away. Soon his hands were on her face and he was kissing her so passionately that it took Maddy's breath away. He leaned further in to her and she leaned back. Suddenly, they weren't so cold anymore.

When they pulled away, Maddy looked at him with wide eyes.

"What...what was _that_ for?" She asked, smiling a little.

Rhydian shrugged. "Nothing. I just..."

"...just what?"

"I just...I love you so much, Mads." He said.

Smiling, Maddy rested their foreheads together. She left a small kiss on his lips. "I love you so much too."

* * *

They stayed there for a while and continued to talk, the conversation gradually lightening.

"Come on," Rhydian said, bumping his shoulder with hers before standing up. "Let's get home. Or at least somewhere warmer."

Maddy chuckled, and she accepted his hand when he held it out for her. "Okay."

"You're gonna be okay, Maddy." He said quietly.

"I know. So are you," she replied, squeezing his hand. "Well, once we get out of this cold anyway."

Rhydian chuckled. "You warm enough for now?" He asked, looking down at his girlfriend as they walked down the hill. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in.

"Yeah." Maddy smiled to herself. She put her arm over his stomach, and they walked back contentedly.

When they got home, Maddy showed the pictures of the Bayoneth to her mum and dad. Rhydian blushed when they told him how wonderful it looked, claiming that he didn't think it was all that good, and Maddy just grinned and shook her head.

Soon she was on her laptop, putting the photos on there and editing them. They looked really good, and Maddy suddenly got an idea for one of Rhydian's Christmas presents.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Helloooooo. Sorry if this chapter has any mistakes or it's kinda meh, I have proof read it a lot but I'm kinda ill haha, feeling pretty rough, but I wanted to update :')_

 _Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for all your reviews on the last chapter._

 _Please do review as it always helps me with motivation to write and get updates up sooner :)_

 _Love :* xxx_

 _PS. I wrote a Canada!Maddian Christmas one-shot, so go check that out if you wanna!_


	3. Even Then

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Wolfblood.

* * *

" _Rhydian_ ," Maddy grumbled, half of her face crumpled up against her pillow. "Come to bed."

Rhydian was sitting at his desk, his back to Maddy. He was drawing and, clearly, it was a huge rush of inspiration because he just wouldn't stop. Now it was 11pm and the light on the desk was keeping Maddy awake.

"I'm almost there, Mads," Rhydian said, his voice hushed.

"It's almost 11.30. I'm knackered. And I can't sleep with the light on. _Come to bed_."

"Oh, so you're not concerned for me and the amount of sleep I get; just the amount _you_ get?" There was a smirk behind his voice. Maddy scowled at him from behind, watching as the muscles in his arms and shoulders moved each time he moved his pencil. He was literally completely ready for bed; pyjama bottoms, no shirt, hair washed, teeth brushed. It had just been an hour ago that he had a sudden rush of wanting to draw something, and he hadn't even set foot in bed once.

"By the looks of it, you're not concerned about the amount of sleep I get, either. Come to bed _now_ or I'm not cuddling you tonight and I kick you by accident in my sleep."

"A tempting offer, Mads. Truly. I love it when you talk dirty to me."

Reaching around to his pillow, Maddy grabbed it and threw it at the back of his head. " _Shut up_."

Rhydian laughed. "Why do you get so grumpy when you're tired?"

Maddy didn't answer. The silence was kind of suspicious, so Rhydian turned his head just slightly to find that her eyes were closed again and her face was half covered by the duvet.

He laughed through his nose, shook his head, and turned back to his sketchbook.

"What are you laughing at?" Maddy's grumpy voice came up a few moments later.

"You. You're cute."

"Oh no, don't pull the whole 'you're cute when you're angry' line on me. That only works in movies."

Rhydian rolled his eyes but he smiled despite himself. "Mads, if I don't come to bed, will you be angry at me for days or is it just tonight?"

"What a stupid question."

"I'm genuinely wondering."

"Well, then it depends how soon you come to bed."

"I'll be there in a bit. Go to sleep, Mads."

"I already told you, I can't sleep with the light on. Go draw downstairs."

Rhydian chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll just fall asleep down there if I do that."

"Good riddance."

He laughed more, continuing to sketch along the lines. "I promise I'm nearly finished, okay?"

Maddy huffed. "Fine. But you owe me."

Grinning, Rhydian shook his head again.

Ten minutes later, Rhydian closed his sketchbook and put his pencils away as quietly as possible. And then he turned off the desk light before shuffling over to his side of the bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Finally," Maddy huffed, her eyes closed as she shuffled backwards towards him.

Purely out of habit, Rhydian moved up behind her, wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the back of her head. Maddy leaned in to him, threading their fingers together.

"Wait," Rhydian said, pulling his head out of her hair. "I thought you said you weren't going to cuddle me?" He smirked.

Maddy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm cold. So I'm making an exception. But don't think I won't kick you in my sleep. My subconscious might take over."

Rhydian chuckled, and Maddy felt it right against the skin behind her ear. He left a kiss there. "You do that anyway."

"…True."

"I love you, Mads," he said as he shuffled around on to his back, getting more comfortable. Maddy turned around to face him and moved right up to his side, wrapping her arm over his stomach and pushing her face in to his chest.

"I love you too."

"Even when I keep you awake with my drawing?"

Maddy smiled despite herself. "Even then, Rhydian."

* * *

 **A/N:** lmao, I don't even know what this is. And why it's so short. But I just love domestic maddian tbh. And grumpy Maddy. So here you go. Just 700 words but hey, I hope you enjoyed it anyway! :')

Thanks for reading, as always! :))) Please review and let me know what you think. :)

Love :* xxx


End file.
